Trousers presser and stretcher



(No Model.)

R.B.OO.LLEY TROUSERS PRESSBR AND STRETGHER.

Patented Nov. 24, 1896.

I INVENTOH.

ATTORNEYS WITNESSES.

. LEY, of 25 King Street, St. I-Ieliers, Jersey,

a single piece; but the upper board is made UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT BROWN COLLEY, OF ST. IIELIERS, ISLAND OF JERSEY.

TROUSERS PRESSER AND STRETCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 571,991, dated November 24, 1896.

Application filed May 13, 1896. Serial No. 591,346. (No model) To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT BROWN 00L- Oha-nnel Islands,have invented a new and useful Improved Presser and Stretcher for Trousers and other Articles,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a portable press for trousers so constructed that any distortion of the garment, bagginess at the knees, creasing, 850., caused by wear or otherwise, may be corrected and the trousers adjusted and pressed to their proper shape, the press possessing the further advantages of compactness, durability, and capability of holding several articles at the same time, while there is an entire absence of small loose parts liable to be mislaid.

The press consists of a pair of presserboards provided with metal cross-bars, which serve as battens and enable pressure to be applied by means of wing-nuts screwing on coupling-screws, which are hinged to the projecting ends of one set of cross-bars and engage with slots in the ends of the other set of cross-bars on which the nuts bear. The boards are made of wood, for the sake of lightness and cheapness, and the contour of each approximates to that of the trousers when the latter are folded lengthwise in the center line of the leg portion and the latter laid one on top of the other. The lower or base board is in three separate portionsviz., two narrow clamping portions serving to hold the garment stretched and alongintermediate presser portion, the latter being provided with two or more cross-bars or battens, the short end portions, which together make the upper board of equal length with the lower, having but one cross-bar each.

In placing the goods in the press and removing them therefrom the three portions of the upper board can be wholly detached without removing the nuts, thus obviating the risk of the loss of any portion of the apparatus.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in Which*- Figure 1 is a plan of the press, and Fig. 2 a cross section thereof drawn to a larger scale. Fig. 3 is a plan of a hot-water pan forming sometimes an adjunct of my im proved presser.

A B are the upper and lower presser-boards, respectively, the upper board Abein g in three separate portions a a a as shown.

0 c are the metal cross-bars or battens secured to the external surfaces of the boards and having ends 0 which project beyond the boards at opposite sides a sufficient distance to receive the clamping screws and nuts. The screws d are hinged to the lower crossbar 0' at n, and when in the locked position they are received in slots 6 in the upper crossbars. The wing-nuts f, as will be seen, screw on the ends of thescrews d and bear upon the upper cross-bars and enable sufficient pressure to be applied to the garments placed between the boards A B.

The boards are of a less length than the trousers, but are slightly broader, and the upper or waist portion of the trousers carrying the brace-buttons hangs loosely over and is not placed between the boards, that portion of the garment not requiring to be submitted to pressure.

The press is adapted to receive several pairs of trousers at the same time, its capacity being determined by the length of the coupling-screws.

The extreme ends of the screws may be burred over or provided with a stop for preventing the nuts from being wholly detached from the screws.

In using the press, the trousers having been carefully folded longitudinally along the center line of the legs and the latter superposed, the garment is laid on the base-board B. The end portion a of the upper board is then placed across the bottom of the trousers and tightly clamped in position. The trousers are now drawn on so as to be stretched lengthwise and are secured at their upper end by clamping the corresponding portion a of the upper board in its place. When thus stretched upon the lower board B, the trousers can readily be smoothed and adjusted to their proper shape, whereupon the middle portion a of the upper board may be fixed in place and all the screws tightened up.

Fig. 3 shows a hot-water pan which may be used with advantage in place of the interroo mediate portion a of the upper board A when time will not permit of the garment being left in the press so long as is necessary to allow of the required result being attained in the ordinary way. This pan, which is preferably formed of sheet metal, is of such a length as to fit between the portions a and a and it corresponds practically to the middle portion a of the upper board A and is adapted to be filled with boiling waterthrough a suitable aperture provided with a closingplug, and when thus filled would be merely laid upon the trousers after the latter have been stretched and clamped upon the baseboard B, as already described, and would by its own weight and heat effect the pressing of the garment in a few minutes.

I clain1- 1. A presser for trousers and other articles, comprising a base-board, screw-bolts pivoted directly to parts rigidly connected with the base-board so that said screw-bolts will be held against movement longitudinally of the base-board, two narrow clamping boards or portions having notched lugs rigidly secured thereto, the screwbolts being adapted to enter the notches of the lugs, wing-nuts on said. screw-bolts,'and an intermediate presser portion consisting of a board adapted to fit between the said clamping-boards, and transverse bars rigidly secured to said intermediate presser portion and provided with projecting notched ends adapted to receive sundry of the said screw-bolts, substantially as described.

ROBERT BROWN COLLEY.

In presence of- FREDERICK J OHN CoRY, PHILIP J OHN LUOE. 

